


Condition: Critical

by iwasnthere622



Series: Wolves vs Berserkers [20]
Category: Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Ambush, Angst, Blood, Gangs, Gen, Guns, Gunshot, Gunshot Wounds, Hurt/Comfort, Panic, Post-Apocalypse, Seriously Wounded, Shock, Shooting, Sniper - Freeform, Violence, Wounded, shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-08 17:12:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11086185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwasnthere622/pseuds/iwasnthere622
Summary: Wakka wiggled beneath the heaped junk, trying to find anything worth salvaging that he could use to get at least one working vehicle instead of three broken ones."Hurry up!" Terra growled, standing guard but antsy.





	Condition: Critical

Wakka wiggled beneath the heaped junk, trying to find anything worth salvaging that he could use to get at least one working vehicle instead of three broken ones.

"Hurry up!" Terra growled, standing guard but antsy -- they had no concrete knowledge of these people, just the stories Rox and Zex had dug up, but the nerds were unable to hack into their systems yet and Tifa was unwilling to send Olette into the lion's den unprepared, even just to get information. Not when gunshots rang out daily, not when innocent blood stained the pavement, not when their headquarters was bombed.

"I'm hurrying," Wakka grunted, pulling gears and wiring free, hands and clothes covered in grease and oil and gunk that he frankly didn't want to think too much about.

He squirmed out from beneath the wreck and dumped the parts into the cart he was wheeling around, following Terra down the alley and letting him check the road before they headed out onto it and to the next dump site on Wakka's list that he was now forced to salvage from.

"Get down!" Terra hissed, shoving Wakka back into the shadow of a building and to the ground, crouching with him.

Wakka's heart raced, looking all around. "What? What?"

"Shh," Terra said, tense and still, eyes scanning. He'd thought he'd seen movement, but maybe not... They waited in tense silence for a minute, two, five...

"Carefully," Terra whispered, standing and going for Wakka's parts. Wakka stood and followed him, opening his mouth to tease Terra about the difference between being prepared and being paranoid when there was a pop of displaced air and then Terra collpased to the ground with a grunt.

"Terra!" Wakka said in a panic, running and dropping next to him, pressing shaking hands to the red rapidly spreading on Terra's thigh and looking up for the source of the shot, just catching a shadow moving on the roof of the building opposite them.

He watched it disappear, feeling the warmth of Terra's blood seeping between his fingers, the hitman pale and cursing, gun up in a slightly trembling hand, the other pressed with Wakka's on the wound.

"We need to get out of here," Wakka said, knowing that Terra was bleeding too fast to be good, shaking and scared. He ripped a strip off the bottom of his shirt, wrapping the fabric tight around Terra's leg just above the wound, tying it tight and wincing when Terra's breath wheezed with pain.

They both winced.

"Go, I'll be behind you," Terra said, pale.

"No, shut up, shut up," Wakka said, pulling Terra to stand, taking all of his weight when he nearly collapsed.

"Shut up, help me dammit, don't give up, come on," Wakka said, seriously panicking, holding Terra up with an arm around his waist and the other holding Terra's arm slung arond his shoulders, pulling his weight with him as he moved to the cart.

"Get in, shut up, oh fuck." Terra tried to help, pressing heavily onto Wakka to boost himself up into the cart, vision blurring.

"Don't you fucking pass out," Wakka snarled, curling Terra's fingers more firmly around his gun, and pressing his other hand to the wound. "Keep pressure, watch my back, that's what you're here for."

"Right," Terra said hoarsely, shaking his head, vision wavering but he kept his eyes peeled behind Wakka as he started to push.

He was feeling really warm and floaty, and it was getting harder and harder to hold the gun up, his vision doubling and dimming at the same time, was it nighttime now?

Wakka ran, pushing the cart and moving as fast as he could, zigging and zagging to the closest tunnel entrance.

He tried to listen for anyone following them but all he could hear was Terra's wheezing, which was getting fainter.

"Dammit, don't you give up," he pleaded at Terra, watching the hitman shake his head slowly, it an obvious struggle for him to stay awake, he was losing too much blood...!

"Help!" Wakka yelled when he saw the side door into the section of tunnel they'd commandeered as new headquarters, nearly fainting in relief when Barret shoved the door open.

"What happened?" Barret demanded, taking over in pushing the cart and rushing it and Terra inside. "Yuna!"

"We were getting parts and then he was shot, I don't know, oh god, there's so much blood," Wakka babbled, following behind them and then everyone was there, Yuna was there barking orders and he blinked and then Yuna, Barret, and Terra were gone and Kairi was shoving water into his hands.

"Drink," she ordered, so he drank, his racing heart slowing, adrenaline crashing and his legs giving out, stumbling to the nearest chair and all but collapsing.

"What happened, Wakka?" Tifa asked firmly, crouching to be on his level and catch his eyes.

Wakka blinked, looking around, sure that everyone had been here a moment ago, when he'd brought Terra... Terra...

"Wakka," Tifa said firmly, squeezing his knees and waiting for him to look at her. "What happened?" she repeated.

Wakka took a braeth. "We were... getting supplies, I needed parts."

Tifa nodded. "Good. Keep going."

"I found some, from our wreaks... we were going to the next spot, Terra thought he saw someone, and then there was a pop and he..."

"You saw someone?" Tifa asked.

Wakka slowly shook his head. "No, not really? When Terra fell, I looked around and there was someone on a roof? I think, I don't know, it could've just been a shadow..."

Tifa frowned. Sniper. "Then what?" she pressed, needing Wakka to focus and finish his report.

"There's... so much blood... I tried to stop it, but it was so much, it's just so much, Tifa," Wakka said, hands shaking, staring at the red stains on his skin.

"You did good, Wakka, the tourniquet was a good idea, you probably saved his life with that," Tifa reassured.

"Is he gonna be okay, Tifa?" Wakka whispered, voice shaking.

Tifa squeezed his knees again, waiting until he met her eyes. "He's gonna be just fine," she said steadily.

Wakka collapsed backwards, breathing out heavily, relief flooding him. "Oh Gaia, thank you," he breathed, eyes stinging with tears.

"Go get some rest, okay? Just rest now, you got him home, Yuna will take care of him now," Tifa said, helping to pull him to his feet.

"Okay. Okay, yeah," Wakka said, moving on wobbly legs to his makeshift room to collapse on his cot.

"There's no blood trail, no activity either," Zack said, pushing into the room fully once Wakka had left. "Using the cart kept them from leaving a trail, we got lucky."

"We'll be lucky if Terra recovers," Tifa said grimly.

Zack winced. "Yuna...?"

Tifa shook her head. "Still working on him, but her curses at the sight of the wound can't mean good things."

"He'll make it, he's tough," Zack said, hoping it was true.

Tifa just nodded, mouth set in a grim line. "From what Wakka said, it sounds like a sniper got him."

"Sniper, huh," Zack muttered, eyes narrowing in anger. "A coward -- if they want to attack, let them attack instead of throwing bombs and using snipers!"

Tifa shook her head. "They're rattling us, showing that they are in charge and we are powerless."

"We're gonna fight them, right?" Zack demanded.

Tifa sighed but nodded. "I want to, Zack, I really, really do. All those rumors lately, and that poor girl we found..."

"You think that was them?" Zack asked.

"Timing fits. Besides, flat out torture -- of a child -- is not Reno's style. He's a cold-hearted asshole but even he is above that," Tifa admitted. If her anger hadn't blinded her to that, they might have seen this coming sooner, might have been able to save the people of the town from the slaugther.

"We'll get them for this, for all of it!" Zack vowed, eyes hard with anger and promise.

Tifa nodded. "Go check on the others, make sure everyone is here. Any more runs, we do at night -- maybe the darkness will allow us to slip by undetected. And tell Rox and Zex to keep pushing, we need that intel."

Zack nodded, clapping Tifa on the shoulder and squeezing before moving out, nodding to Barret as they passed one another.

Tifa sank into a chair, shooting back up when Barret entered the room. "Terra?"

"Critical, but alive," Barret reported.

Tifa's shoulders slumped, welcoming Barret's embrace, hugging him back and just breathing for a few minutes.

"Will he make it?" she asked softly, pulling back to look up into Barret's face.

"Yuna's hopeful," Barret said gently, wiping Tifa's hair back from her face and cupping her cheek. "But she's not sure he'll ever walk properly again, if he makes it."

Tifa sucked in a breath, eyes stinging.

"He's strong, he won't give up," Barret reassured, hugging her again. "Yuna has Cid donating some blood to him to replace what he lost -- the bullet nicked his artery, but she's closed the hole now, we just need to wait for Terra to recover on his own."

Tifa nodded, the news not great, but there was a chance. Yuna would never give up, and neither would Terra.

"How's Wakka?" Barret asked when Tifa pulled away from him a few minutes later.

"Shaken, in shock," Tifa answered. "I sent him to get some rest. It was a sniper ambush."

"Really?" Barret asked, surprised.

Tifa nodded. "They must have caught someone by surprise, because whoever it was only stuck around to shoot Terra once and then fled."

"Their mistake, leaving Wakka alive," Barret agreed.

"And Terra -- one shot and they didn't even get a kill from it," Tifa said. "Arrogance... we can work with that."

Barret smiled a little, because this conniving, cunning Tifa was the woman he loved.  


End file.
